Bigger Need Right Now: Safety or Right Tackle?

[DC9]

Safety and it's not even close.

We had a top 5 offense last year with our current right tackle. You can loosely scheme around offensive line issues, it's hard to scheme around a guy who can stay deep on defense.

[#98QBKiller]

Safety by a mile. I don't even think Tyler Polumbus was that bad this year.

[CrypticVillain]

Dummies are going to say safety, but it is really RT. The offense could only function as long as we were never in a classic drop back passing game. The reason was that our pass protection in the right side was abysmal. Watch the Carolina game, and you'll see what I am talking about.

You must knew you were going to be severely outnumbered so you came out swinging. You could have said, "I know most people are going to say safety, but I think..... But no, you had to call people dummies.

But yeah, it's safety. Our offense performed without a RT. We can anybody to plug in there and the offense would still produce. I know we might have Tanard Jackson, but it would still be nice to get another FS just in case.

[NoVaSkins21]

Safety cost us probably two games just by itself.

Yes, the first Giants game and the Bengals game (Mohamed Sanu, :doh: and Andrew Hawkins)

[Gregpeck99]

Wow the Homers on this site are so dumb.

Skins biggest need is a "Pass Rush."

2nd biggest need is a Kick Returner/3rd-down back with speed.

[PortisBetts]

Dummies are going to say safety, but it is really RT. The offense could only function as long as we were never in a classic drop back passing game. The reason was that our pass protection in the right side was abysmal. Watch the Carolina game, and you'll see what I am talking about.

How is it dumb to say safety is the biggest priorty? Do you rememeber the Giants game last year in NY? We actually lost that game 100% because we dont have a free safety who can cover. I cant say we lost any games due to our right tackle. Although, i do definetly agree that it is a need, but if you are giving me a top flight safety or top flight rt at this point, I am taking safety all the way.

[armada58]

IMO its Right Tackle by a long shot. When a safety makes a mistake, its usually a high profile blunder that results in a bad TD. Mistakes by a safety are magnified when compared to those of a RT. That is why I think most people are going to say that safety is the biggest need. Madieu Williams blowing the coverage on Victor Cruz easily sticks our brains much more than Palombus getting abused on weekly basis.

My resoning for going with Right Tackle is simple. We need to put as many assets as we can around RGIII at this stage of his career. Not to mention that most of his injuries resulted in him scrambling to avoid defenders who had just beaten Palombus. Protecting the franchise QB has to be the #1 top priority. Hands down. End of story. That top priority has to come at the expense of filling other holes. We may not have a good secondary next year because of the cap issues. But, I'll take giving up some bad TD's because of bad coverage over our All-World QB, who will still be recovering from a blown ACL, getting hit or flushed from the pocket any day.

[Riggo#44]

Yes, the first Giants game and the Bengals game (Mohamed Sanu, :doh: and Andrew Hawkins)

It nearly cost us the Eagles game too -- Maclin was wide open b/c Williams couldn't get over. Good thing for us Foles missed the throw...

[Bantu]

Was "dummies" a little much? I think it was, so apologies to all I may have offended.

The thing about safety is that we can say we were just as deficient at CB. To pinpoint safety as the weak link that made our pass defense weak is not looking at the game close enough, IMO. We knew that our secondary was not that good, starting from CB#2 and beyond. Heck, even our #1CB is not that good. What we all thought, however, going into last season was that the front seven was going to be elite or close to it. Was safety a liability at times? Heck yes. But can we say, with any conviction, that our pass rush was good. Lets not act like they gave our secondary every chance to be successful. IMO, we can upgrade our safety play by upgrading our front seven especially our pass rush and run stopping on first and second down.

RT, however, is an issue. We hid our RT weaknesses last year by all the misdirection plays, read-option, and normal bootleg stuff, which was great for RGIII's development and rode that good fortune to a division title. RGIII and his development as a pocket passer is why I'm banging the drum for a stud RT. Without RGIII playing at a high level, this team goes nowhere. It is in our best interest to invest as much as possible in the offense around him and make sure he develops every facet of a dominant QB and I do not think he can do that quickly and smoothly enough if the entire right side caves in on every pass play that isn't based on misdirection or play-action. Look, a lot of us on here don't want to hear this, but the easiest way to beat a defense is by killing them from the pocket. That's why you see many QB's who are below average "athletes" at best destroying defenses in the NFL. Because while it is hard to master, the drop back passing game is still the simplest way to get the ball in the endzone and fast.

[E-Dog Night]

One might take a look at the defensive backfield problems the Redskins had last season and say "it's gotta be safety". But I really think RT is the answer to this question.

Ask yourself: where do the Redskins have their biggest investment? At quarterback. And every time the starting QB got hurt last yer, it was on pass plays.

The biggest reason the Redskins were successful was the combination of success in the run and pass games. They were intertwined, impossible to separate. That's where this team can be special, where they can dominate.

There's nothing they can do to be special in the secondary. And they don't need to be. All they need to do is be average, and they can be.

I don't know exactly how it's going to play out of course, but between DeAngelo Hall (assuming they keep him) Richard Crawford, Tanard Jackson, Cedric Griffin, Brandon Meriweather, Chase Minnifield et al., the Redskins should be able to cobble together an average D-backfield, and average would be a huge improvement over last season.

On the other hand, the OL has been steadily improving over the past 2 seasons, and right now, RT is the weak link.

I'd rather spend the money to create a dominant unit - one that controls the ball - rather than trying to make a desperate signing to shore up a unit that can be average using the pieces that are already in place.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

It's close, keeping RGIII upright is top priority, but I think free safety wins out. We might have a RT solution in Compton...maybe. We'll see if the solution is on the roster, but that's more than we can say for free safety, the solution to that problem is most certainly not on the roster, unless we're counting Jackson, who can't even step onto the football field until mid-August...

There are different ways to keep RG3 upright besides upgrading at RT. Some others involve making defenses scared enough that they have to respect other threats. Teams like to slow down a pass rush by using different types of screens, quick throws, and the like. If you force the defense to have to spread out, it helps keep the QB upright.

The blog HTTR-24/7 did an article about how we hoped Brandon Banks would force defenses to spread out, yet he struggled to perform that role. Kyle Shanahan has been quoted a lot saying he wants to add more speed to the team at WR/RB. It seems to me like Kyle wants a huge upgrade over Brandon Banks and considers that to be the priority over RT, while we try and develop Day 3 draft picks to be our RT. Mike Shanahan has developed Day 3 picks to be good starting RT's repeatedly in Denver. It's something he's comfortable doing.

[paloosa]

I think we can address both this year without giving up to much. I think that there is enough depth in the draft at both areas of need to find them. Plus FA is also an option.

[cphil006]

I think we can address both this year without giving up to much. I think that there is enough depth in the draft at both areas of need to find them. Plus FA is also an option.

Agreed....

Is Polumbus a FA? Is Merriweather coming back?

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

IMO its Right Tackle by a long shot. When a safety makes a mistake, its usually a high profile blunder that results in a bad TD. Mistakes by a safety are magnified when compared to those of a RT. That is why I think most people are going to say that safety is the biggest need. Madieu Williams blowing the coverage on Victor Cruz easily sticks our brains much more than Palombus getting abused on weekly basis.

This is a misconception. Safeties have a lot of responsibilities in coverage, one of which is protecting against the deep ball. There are a lot of situations where we blame the corners or linebackers for something yet the safety was supposed to provide help but did not. For example, a corner could line up and shade a wide receiver in a certain way with the knowledge that he's forcing the WR to run towards the safety. This works well, but if the safety is slow in recognizing what's happening and moving to his necessary spot, then it just looks like the corner got burnt when in reality it's supposed to be bracket coverage. Corner on one side with the safety on the other.

For linebackers, they're often tasked with dropping into coverage underneath where a TE or WR is supposed to cross over into the middle, which would force the QB to loft the ball or throw it higher if he wanted to make that pass. Yet if the safeties aren't where they're supposed to be, then they can't make the QB pay for having to float the pass over the linebackers head. The end result is that it looks like the linebacker got burnt, when in fact he was in his correct zone.

---------- Post added March-8th-2013 at 01:24 PM ----------

Agreed....

Is Polumbus a FA? Is Merriweather coming back?

Polumbus is a FA, and Meriweather is currently under contract. We have no idea what's happening to either as our FO have been pretty tight lipped with their cuts, restructures, and free agency plans.

[amm0409]

I almost tend to think we need a pass rusher more than safety. Countless of times, the opposing QB had all day to throw. We didn't seem to even move the QB around, Hurry, or even Touch the opposing QB. Id rather get pressure and Hit the Quarterback.

Still standing by RT

Yeh, statically we were bad on defense and in the secondary, but how many injuries did we have? I think we will improve

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

Was "dummies" a little much? I think it was, so apologies to all I may have offended.

The thing about safety is that we can say we were just as deficient at CB. To pinpoint safety as the weak link that made our pass defense weak is not looking at the game close enough, IMO. We knew that our secondary was not that good, starting from CB#2 and beyond. Heck, even our #1CB is not that good.

This isn't quite true. Our corners had about a league average DVOA against opposing wide receivers. Where we got torched much more than league average was against TE's. Safeties failed to recognize plays as they were developing and were either not in the right spot due to mental lapses or because they're just not physically quick/fast enough.

A lot of times when a corner/linebacker gets burnt, it's because the safety failed in recognizing the play and wasn't where he should be. Which left our corners/linebackers hanging out to dry because they're anticipating and playing as if the safeties would be where they're supposed to be.

What we all thought, however, going into last season was that the front seven was going to be elite or close to it. Was safety a liability at times? Heck yes. But can we say, with any conviction, that our pass rush was good. Lets not act like they gave our secondary every chance to be successful. IMO, we can upgrade our safety play by upgrading our front seven especially our pass rush and run stopping on first and second down.

Our safeties prevent our corners from playing the way they should if we had an elite Front 7. What I mean by this, is that the corners rely on the safeties to back them up, and they can be more aggressive against hitches, comebacks. But since you can't rely on the safeties to provide help if the pass rush isn't there in 3 seconds, you can't afford to play as aggressively.

[Hitman21ST]

I almost tend to think we need a pass rusher more than safety. Countless of times, the opposing QB had all day to throw. We didn't seem to even move the QB around, Hurry, or even Touch the opposing QB. Id rather get pressure and Hit the Quarterback.

Still standing by RT

Yeh, statically we were bad on defense and in the secondary, but how many injuries did we have? I think we will improve

The second part of your post doesn't jive with the first part. Our pass rush was decimated by injury. Rak and Carriker are vital cogs to the pass rush.

[amm0409]

The second part of your post doesn't jive with the first part. Our pass rush was decimated by injury. Rak and Carriker are vital cogs to the pass rush.

Im ADD:)

I was just trying to say the numbers point to our secondary, but From watching the games, it seemed like every time there wasn't any pressure and the QB threw the ball I would say "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

It would be nice to have pressure and "at least" move the QB in the pocket or out and "touch" the QB and hit him. This will allow the secondary a better chance to bat the ball down or make a play thats all.

Even when Carriker and Rak played, I didn't see the consistency. All the games seemed to be a shoot out.

How many times did RG3 get forced out of the pocket to make a play? To the credit of his ability and our scheme we were fortunate enough to have a great offense. My opinion still stands to "protect his future" and build around him especially if we gave up so much to get him

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

Im ADD:)

I was just trying to say the numbers point to our secondary, but From watching the games, it seemed like every time there wasn't any pressure and the QB threw the ball I would say "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

It would be nice to have pressure and "at least" move the QB in the pocket or out and "touch" the QB and hit him. This will allow the secondary a better chance to bat the ball down or make a play thats all.

Even when Carriker and Rak played, I didn't see the consistency. All the games seemed to be a shoot out

By all the games do you mean 1 game, against one of the best offenses in the league? Orakpo had a pretty good game against Brees, 3 passes blocked. And then in his 12 or so snaps against the Rams, he sacked Bradford once. The Rams put up all those points after Carriker and Orakpo got hurt.

[amm0409]

By all the games do you mean 1 game, against one of the best offenses in the league? Orakpo had a pretty good game against Brees, 3 passes blocked. And then in his 12 or so snaps against the Rams, he sacked Bradford once. The Rams put up all those points after Carriker and Orakpo got hurt.

Oh no I don't want to argue or point figures at our players. Rak is a good player and will be a key ingredient next season thank god.

Saints might have one of the best offenses in the league, but they were coming off all kinds of stuff, bounty scandal, head coach out a year and so on. The saints were a different team by the end of the year than the beginning

If you want to call me blind and I didn't see the constancy between those guys fine.

I just feel like the QB has more time throwing the ball against our Skins thats all

Maybe Im trying to say we need some big time players up-front on the DL. I just think its easy to point everything about our flaws to the secondary. Without the rush I don't care what mad man is in our secondary. Maybe not Sean, at least he could cover sideline to sideline, he was a freak, a type of guy who just doesn't come around

Its like, if a team can't tackle in the middle or up front its going to be a long day and the RB is going to have a field day tiring out the D

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

I just feel like the QB has more time throwing the ball against our Skins thats all

Well this was certainly true in 2012. In 2011 we were Top 10 in total QB pressures. In 2012, we definitely weren't.

[DogofWar1]

There are different ways to keep RG3 upright besides upgrading at RT. Some others involve making defenses scared enough that they have to respect other threats. Teams like to slow down a pass rush by using different types of screens, quick throws, and the like. If you force the defense to have to spread out, it helps keep the QB upright.

Definitely, which is why safety is still over right tackle. If right tackle was the key factor in keeping RGIII upright, then I'd probably pick it over safety, even without a starter there. Without a starting safety, we went 10-6 last year. Without RGIII...

But yes, we could add a blocking RB, use TEs, and adding weapons and opening up the playbook would improve our protection of RGIII and sort of serve as a substitute for improved RT play, at least in the short term.

[Koolblue13]

We were putting up over 30 points a game a lot last year and still not blowing teams away. I think it's pretty obvious what's more important. Guess I'm a dummy.

[MCnDaHouse]

Brandon Merriweather coming back healthy will definitely help, but we still need another safety. I think that should be the priority. But they should also be strongly looking at RT and any other upgrades they can get to the OL.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

Definitely, which is why safety is still over right tackle. If right tackle was the key factor in keeping RGIII upright, then I'd probably pick it over safety, even without a starter there. Without a starting safety, we went 10-6 last year. Without RGIII...

But yes, we could add a blocking RB, use TEs, and adding weapons and opening up the playbook would improve our protection of RGIII and sort of serve as a substitute for improved RT play, at least in the short term.

Agreed. I also think people here on ES need to take a closer look at the HTTR-24/7 blogpost about what a player like Tavon Austin would do in our offense. Somebody who works very well in space would terrify defenses to the point where they couldn't afford to keep guys zeroed in on RG3 no matter what.